Folk Tales Quotes

“An old man spoke to his grandson. "My child," he said. "Inside everyone there is a battle between two wolves. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth." The boy thought for a moment. Then he asked, "Which wolf wins?" A moment of silence passed before the old man replied. And then he said, "The one you feed." - Native American Folk Tale”
― Christine Woodward, Rogue Touch

“We tell stories of the dead as a way of making a sense of the living. More than just simple urban legends and campfire tales, ghost stories reveal the contours of our anxieties, the nature of our collective fears and desires, the things we can’t talk about in any other way. The past we’re most afraid to speak aloud of in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.”
― Colin Dickey, Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places

“Silence is another element we find in classic fairy tales — girls muted by magic or sworn to silence in order to break enchantment. In "The Wild Swans," a princess is imprisoned by her stepmother, rolled in filth, then banished from home (as her older brothers had been before her). She goes in search of her missing brothers, discovers that they've been turned into swans, whereupon the young girl vows to find a way to break the spell. A mysterious woman comes to her in a dream and tells her what to do: 'Pick the nettles that grow in graveyards, crush and spin them into thread, then weave them into coats and throw them over your brothers' backs.' The nettles burn and blister, yet she never falters: picking, spinning, weaving, working with wounded, crippled hands, determined to save her brothers. All this time she's silent. 'You must not speak,' the dream woman has warned, 'for a single world will be like a knife plunged into your brothers' hearts.'

You must not speak. That's what my stepfather said: don't speak, don't cry, don't tell. That's what my mother said as well, as we sat in hospital waiting rooms -- and I obeyed, as did my brothers. We sat as still and silent as stone while my mother spun false tales to explain each break and bruise and burn. Our family moved just often enough that her stories were fresh and plausible; each new doctor believed her, and chided us children to be more careful. I never contradicted those tales. I wouldn't have dared, or wanted to. They'd send me into foster care. They'd send my young brothers away. And so we sat, and the unspoken truth was as sharp as the point of a knife.”
― Terri Windling, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales

“I realize that for all my penchant in believing that there's more to the world than what we can see, that folk tales and fairy tales are based on real, if forgotten events, I never accepted that part of it as being real.”
― Charles de Lint, The Onion Girl

“The life of the hero of the tale is, at the outset, overshadowed by bitter and hopeless struggles; one doubts that the little swineherd will ever be able to vanquish the awful Dragon with the twelve heads. And yet, ...truth and courage prevail and the youngest and most neglected son of the family, of the nation, of mankind, chops off all twelve heads of the Dragon, to the delight of our anxious hearts. This exultant victory, towards which the hero of the tale always strives, is the hope and trust of the peasantry and of all oppressed peoples. This hope helps them bear the burden of their destiny.”
― Gyula Illyes, Once Upon a Time: Forty Hungarian Folk-Tales

“There is a folk-tale about a shoemaker and his wife who were so poor that they had to send their many children out into the world to make a living. The lads went through many a perilous adventure but came home in the end, unscathed, to help their mother. They had always remembered their mother's advice and wise words; they often quoted them when they were in trouble, and in fact they recognized one another by them in foreign lands.
The countless peoples of the world may be looked upon as so many children sent out into the world. They have gone through many adventures and hardships. They have drifted apart and fallen out with one another, on many occasions. They have failed to realize soon enough that they are brothers.
But now it seems that they are beginning to realize this -- at least to the extent that they are able to get acquainted with each other's fundamental natures -- through their stories and songs.”
― Gyula Illyes, Once Upon a Time: Forty Hungarian Folk-Tales

“There's what's smart and what's right." - Molly in the Night Gardener”
― Jonathan Auxier, The Night Gardener: A Spooky Middle Grade Gothic Horror Novel

“These tales, without exception, express the truth that justice triumphs in the end. They all contain the idea that it is worth while to fight for the truth, in any situation.
In this fight man is assisted by more powerful beings than ordinary mortals. And the triumph of justice is the only sense and consolation in this world. Indeed, the world itself started out with this hope. The human race received it long, long ago as a cradle-song.”
― Gyula Illyes, Once Upon a Time: Forty Hungarian Folk-Tales

“...The man who stood before her was taller and stranger than anyone she had ever encountered. His unkempt hair was a long dark brown, partially braided and twisted around twigs, the tips of his pointed ears poking between strands. His bare chest made her flush, but it was completely covered in green inked tattoos. Leather breeches creaked when he shifted. He held his hand out to her, uncurling fingers with long nails. "Aislin," he repeated, his voice gruff and purring, "do not be frightened. I have been waiting so long for you.”
― Lori J. Fitzgerald, Love Lies Bleeding

“It's a pook, a messenger...spy is more like it," Kern explained sourly. "This one will tattle, and I'll never hear the end of it when I go back." An eyebrow lifted. "Consorting with a human.”
― Lori J. Fitzgerald, Love Lies Bleeding

“We who are beyond the mortal world see many things from the edges; we hear the subtle shifts of rhythm in the beat of a blackening heart.”
― Emmanuelle de Maupassant, Cautionary Tales: Voices from the Edges

“And we, from within the sigh of the trees, and the soft moss underfoot, and the calling of night birds, watched him as he watched, gazing where he should not.”
― Emmanuelle de Maupassant, Cautionary Tales: Voices from the Edges

“There is no better gift than giving one a chance to smile through, his or her book”
― Shiju H Pallithazheth, Katashi Tales

“He came up with a plan to trick the townspeople, who by now were so desperately afraid of the world around them that they would believe anything.”
― Kevin Cripe, The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf: The Complete Story

“From that Sunday on Preacher Franklin added a new song to the service called , 'I Am Better Than You' and it went like this:

Many years I wandered lost and scared,
Through troubles and toils my wickedness flared
Then in my darkness I realized what I needed to do
Now I do all the right things and I am better than you.

Chorus:

Better than you, yes I am better than you
My life has a purpose and I can tell you what to do
Better than you, yes I am better than you
If you are a scared miserable loser,
I will help pull you through.”
― Kevin Cripe, The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf: The Complete Story

“Now, before I go any further I can hear you thinking that Brer Wolf been killed off twice. What that got to do with anything? Am I the tale? Is the tale me? Or is the tale the tale? Well, you can figure that out.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“In the colored fairy books of Andrew Lang (The Red Fairy Book, The Blue Fairy Book, etc.), there is a figure who has always intrigued me: the Hen Wife, related to the witch, the seer, and the herbalist, but different from them too: a distinct and potent archetype of her own, an enchanted figure beneath a humble white apron. We find her dispensing wisdom and magic in the folk tales of the British Isles and far beyond (all the way to Russia and China): a woman who is part of the community, not separate from it like the classic "witch in the woods"; a woman who is married, domesticated like her animal familiars, and yet conversant with women's mysteries, sexuality, and magic.”
― Terri Windling

“When somebody says I need, it means that the thing they will tell you is a terror, and must not really be heard at all.”
― Robert Dinsdale, Gingerbread

“Most folks don't know it, but the animals didn't always live on earth. Way back before "In the beginning" and "Once upon a time," they lived next door to the Moon. They'd probably still be there if Brer Rabbit and Sister Moon hadn't started squabbling with one another like they were married.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“When the animals started living here on Earth, something seemed to happen to them. Where before they had gotten along with each other, now they started having little arguments and disagreements. It was only a matter of time before they weren't much different from people.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“When the shadows were at their shortest, Brer Rabbit went over to Brer Fox's. He'd scarcely set one foot on the porch when he heard groaning from inside. He opened the door and saw Brer Fox sitting in his rocking chair, a blanket over his shoulder, looking like Death eating soda crackers in the graveyard.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“Brer Rabbit allowed as to how he was too sick, and Brer Fox said he couldn't be too sick to go partying. (God knows, that's the truth! I ain't never been too sick to party. Even when I'm dead, I'll get up out of the grave to party. And when I get sick, the blues are the best doctor God put on earth. The blues can cure athlete's foot, hangnail, and the heartbreak of psoriasis.)”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“Brer Rabbit went into training. He bought a red jogging suit, a green sweatband, and some yellow Adidas sneakers, and he jogged ten miles every day. Then he'd come home and do a whole mess of push-ups, sit-ups, and skip rope to his records. Some folks wondered if he was training for a race or "Soul Train.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“He tied Brer Rabbit to a tree alongside the road and went to get a stick. He was going to beat the Devil out of Brer Rabbit and whup some Jesus in.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“How you today, Gran'sir' Gray Fox?" Brer Rabbit greeted him.

"Not doing too well," Gran'sir' Gray Fox said. "I got the old age in my teeths.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“Brer Bear said he was going to fish for mud-cats. Brer Wolf said he was going to fish for horneyheads. Brer Fox wanted to catch some perch for the ladies. Brer Turtle said he'd fish for minnows, and Brer Rabbit looked at Brer Turtle and said he was going to fish for suckers.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“Back in them times people looked alike to the animals, so they called all of them Mr. Man.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“When Brer Rabbit saw Mr. Man with the wagon full of money he looked around and noticed that he didn't have a wagon full of money. There was something wrong with that. If there wasn't, he'd have the money and Mr. Man wouldn't have any.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“I wonder what's in that sack Brer Fox got slung over his shoulder?" Brer Rabbit wondered. He wondered and he wondered, and the more he wondered, the more he didn't know. He knew this much: Brer Fox had absolutely no business walking up the road singing and carrying something which nobody but him knew what it was.”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

“Like I said at the beginning, if there was one thing the animals agreed on, it was partying. If the sun came up on time, they had a party! If the rain was wet, they partied! If the grass was green, they partied!”
― Julius Lester, The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit